Incline Our Hearts

All Shall Be Well

On May 8 our Episcopal Calendar commemorates Saint Julian of Norwich. Julian lived a difficult and dangerous life. Born around 1343 in the English city of Norwich, she experienced a time of war and plague (the Black Death killed half the people of Norwich). Julian herself became seriously ill and almost died, even receiving last rites. But instead of dying, over several hours of grave illness, she had multiple mystical visions of Jesus, 16 in all. 

After she recovered, she wrote about what she experienced. And some decades later, as a solitary religious woman, an anchoress, living a life of simplicity and prayer, she revised “Revelations of Divine Love” with more theological reflection. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well” became her most famous saying from “Revelations of Divine Love,” especially after T.S. Eliot quoted it in his iconic 1942 poem “Little Gidding.”

In our own chaotic and disturbing times, we might be tempted to dismiss Julian’s words as irrelevant and out of touch. And yet, we proclaim as people of faith and followers of the Risen Christ that all shall be well. We say this not out of naivete, or denial, but because we believe that we have a savior who promised to be with us always, even to the end of the ages. And if God is with us, who or what can stand against us?

Because Christ was crucified and raised from the dead, we have no need to fear. For we not only have a Savior who knows our human pain, who suffered as we do and comforts us in our sorrows, but a Savior who has overcome death. A Savior who, when he comes again, will set all things right, on earth as it is in heaven. This is the promise this Jesus brings: not a momentary quiet, a ceasefire amidst the dangers and degradation of this world. But a coming kingdom of peace, of love and of justice, without end. Not a pause to suffering, to starvation, disease and violence, or a gradual improvement, but every sword made into ploughshares, enough sustenance for all to feast at the banquet, every tear wiped away, and life everlasting.

God’s promise, though, does not let us off the hook from our responsibility as people of faith: like the early Christians, and like Julian and all the saints, to live the values of God’s kingdom, here and now, as an unmistakable sign of its coming.

“All shall be well, and all shall we well, and all manner of thing shall be well."